Landing gear fairings

Plummit · Post by **Plummit** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:05 pm

As I'm going to own a 170 (soon I hope) I would like to know if anyone has faired the gear legs and intersections. Also, are there after-market wheel pants that have been STC'd or 337?

I have a homebuilder friend who faired the legs on his RV and said it added about 15 MPH to his RV6.

thanks

~Marc

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:21 pm

Aftermarket fiberglass wheel pants are available through Aircraft Spruce, Wag-Aero, etc. Having owned & flown a '52 with and without the wheel pants I can state with confidence that the speed "increase" with wheel pants is negligible.

I've never heard of anyone fairing the gear legs, but folks have faired the intersection of the gear legs and the fuselage and also the brake calipers. Maybe someone here who has experience with those mods can speak to their efficiency, but I doubt it's more than a gain of a couple mph.

The only way you'll add 15 mph to a 170 is to sell it for a faster airplane

170 + 15 = ???

n2582d · Post by **n2582d** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:21 pm

If selling the plane for a faster one doesn't work, you might try hooking the static line up to the venturi!

There are a couple of others who have tinkered with making the 170 faster. These STCs are probably obsolete but might be worth looking into.

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... enDocument

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... enDocument

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:23 pm

doug8082a wrote:Aftermarket fiberglass wheel pants are available through Aircraft Spruce, Wag-Aero, etc. Having owned & flown a '52 with and without the wheel pants I can state with confidence that the speed "increase" with wheel pants is negligible.

Any increase in airpeed with wheelpants is the result of your wallet being that much lighter from having purchased them IMHO.

Plummit · Post by **Plummit** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:34 pm

N2865C wrote:
doug8082a wrote:Aftermarket fiberglass wheel pants are available through Aircraft Spruce, Wag-Aero, etc. Having owned & flown a '52 with and without the wheel pants I can state with confidence that the speed "increase" with wheel pants is negligible.
Any increase in airpeed with wheelpants is the result of your wallet being that much lighter from having purchased them IMHO.

Which is pretty much what my RV6 Driver/friend said too. BUT(!) he said that fairing the gear legs and intersections did indeed result in a noticiable speed increase. Obviously if I don't /can't fair the gear legs I prolly wouldn't be interested in wheel pants. It sounds like the $$$-to-MPH ratio is too high to be worth it.

regards

~Marc

170C · Post by **170C** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:26 am

There are a lot more knowledgeable folks out there that can and probably will respond to your questions. However, it is a know fact that the back of the main gear tires is an area of disturbed air (ie: drag) and wheel pants can improve that. How much it might increase your speed is a guess. If you really wnat to ck them out, find someone who will let you borrow their wheel pants and give them a try. I have a member friend whose son also has a 170 & before putting the wheel pants on the son's 170 wouldn't quite keep up with Dad's. After installing them the son's 170 will stay right with Dad's who's 170 does not have wheel pants. So go figure. As far as fairing the gear legs, I don't know what that would do, but the 170 legs are pretty smooth, drag wise, as they are except at the gear leg/wheel intersections.

hilltop170 · Post by **hilltop170** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:51 am

Mark- The guys over in the Cessna 180/185 club have come up with several mods like you're talking about. One of them has even put a fiberglass pant on his tailwheel! Claims 4mph increase with it. Some of them sawed off their steps! Wheelpants and gear leg/ brake caliper fairings do seem to make a difference on the 180/5 series planes of 7-10 mph but they are going around 150mph stock to start with. I don't think the same mods would provide the same benefit at 100-110 mph since the mods reduce parasitic drag which decreases anyway with a decrease in speed. The mods are also fairly expensive and makes pre-flight inspection more difficult. If you get a 170 with 180 gear and Cleveland brakes, all that stuff should fit. Give it a try and let us all know how they work out, http://www.sniderspeedkit.com.
Richard

trake · Post by **trake** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:27 am

You are looking for the "Snyder speed kit". Check with the Cessna 180/185 club. Check back and let us know how it works out.

Plummit · Post by **Plummit** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:29 pm

trake wrote:You are looking for the "Snyder speed kit". Check with the Cessna 180/185 club. Check back and let us know how it works out.

It took some searching, but I finally found:

http://www.sniderspeedkit.com/

Unfortunately, they only make kits for 180 and 185 models. I'm guessing that if you had 180 gear legs on a C-170 it might work out, but you would have to do your own paper work.

The Snider gear-leg fairings are a type of PVC, which I presume (read hope) are UV stabilized. In any event the web site is worth bookmarking for future refferrence.

Thanks!

~Marc

4stripes · Post by **4stripes** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:00 pm

So called "speed mods" are a complete waste of time on a 100MPH plane. I spoke to a guy in Washington state who faired everything he could, and flush riveted every surface that was impacting the airflow on his 170B! It also had stock wheel pants. He admitted that all his hard work only gave an insignificant speed change (a couple knots). He had a beautiful burgundy paintjob, and his workmanship was top notch. I don't recall his N number. This was over 15 years ago. I wonder how flush riveting would affect the airworthiness?

Why would you want to get there any faster? The more time I spend in my 170, the better!

If you want to go fast, buy a faster plane, with the higher operating costs.

Plummit · Post by **Plummit** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:03 pm

>>
Why would you want to get there any faster? The more time I spend in my 170, the better!
<<

Well heck, then you should add the removable seat option and sleep in the plane too!

Seriously, if I could pick up 10 knots with faired gear legs and pants, I think that would be a worthwhile investment. the aircraft I'm looking at all have the 0-360 conversion, and the claimed cruise speed is between 135 and 145 MPH. I won't consider a plane that doesn't have that kind of performance.

regards

~Marc

4stripes · Post by **4stripes** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:59 pm

If you could get 10 knots just by fairing the gear legs, I've got some swamp land you might have some luck with!
Cheers Eric

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:46 am

Plummit wrote:>>
Seriously, if I could pick up 10 knots with faired gear legs and pants, I think that would be a worthwhile investment. the aircraft I'm looking at all have the 0-360 conversion, and the claimed cruise speed is between 135 and 145 MPH. I won't consider a plane that doesn't have that kind of performance.

regards

~Marc

Well, that takes the ragwing and the B out of the picture!

Plummit · Post by **Plummit** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:56 am

>>
Well, that takes the ragwing and the B out of the picture!
<<

I dunno, this other "B" model I'm looking at is supposed to have a 75% power cruise speed of 140+ in still air (and not downhill!).

That would be pretty sweet in my opinion, and yes, I feel the "need"!

regards

~Marc

blueldr · Post by **blueldr** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:43 am

I really am from Missouri on that 140 in still air and not going downhill.
Maybe with a Continental IO-360 set up for 210 HP.

The International Cessna 170 Association

Landing gear fairings

Landing gear fairings

need for speed

Fairing 170 Gear Legs

speed?